The Biggest Winners, Where Are They Now?

Anyone that plays casino games thinks about winning big and walking away millions of dollars richer. Often however, things don’t turn out the way we expect. We tracked down three of the biggest winners to see where they are now and what happened after they struck it lucky.

An Unexpected Ending

One of the biggest winners in casino history is Cynthia Brennan, and her tale is also possibly the saddest too. She won over $39 million at a Vegas casino when she was only 30 years old, and working as a waitress. Her boyfriend was a barman at the time, and when Cynthia unexpectedly won the huge sum they decided to get married, and celebrate with a world trip. Unfortunately, her luck didn’t last, and sadly not even 2 weeks later Cynthia was in a terrible car collision with her sister. Cynthia is now paralysed from the waist down, and her sister died on impact. Cynthia has repeatedly said that she would gladly give the $39 million back if she could just use her legs and have her sister back.

Taking a Real Risk

Possibly one of the more interesting Vegas wins is that of Ashley Revell. After a few pints with some friends, one of them mentioned how crazy it would be to bet everything you own on one spin of the Roulette wheel. So that is exactly what Ashley did. He sold all his belongings, even his clothing, and flew to Vegas to the Plaza Hotel and Casino to place his very well publicized bet. Just about the whole casino held its breath as the wheel spun, but cheers were heard when it turned out he had won £153, 600. Ashley celebrated his win by travelling around Europe on a motorbike and then returned home to continue a rather simple life. He opened several companies and now runs iGaming Recruitment, where he successfully places candidates with online casino employers.

Philanthropy at its Best

Our third big winner is the elderly Elmer Sherwin, who won over $21 million on a trip to Vegas in 2005. Elmer was an incredible 92 years old when he won and felt that there wasn’t much value to add to his life with money, and instead donated the majority of it to the relief fund for Hurricane Katrina. He died a happy man 2 years later, his millions having helped millions!